[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Signs of the times: accolades, protests, evictions

[Patrick Bond]

The Star

September 07, 2006 /Edition 4/

**

*Press honours Trevor Manuel*

Finance minister Trevor Manuel has collected another accolade. He was 
named last night as the Johannesburg Press Club Newsmaker 2005 at a 
banquet in Sandton. He received the accolade for his leadership of the 
South African economy and for dominating newsprint and airtime last year.

"It is through the leadership of Trevor Manuel that the world looks at 
us with respect," said Jaco Maree, chief executive officer of Standard 
Bank, giving the reason the minister had been selected. Manuel countered 
by saying that the credit should go to his staff and SA's robust 
economy. - Staff Reporter

***

Orange Farm demo turns as protests clash with police

September 07, 2006 Edition 2

Lebogang Seale

Thick smoke billowed into the air. The sound of rubber bullets 
reverberated and people screamed hysterically as they scattered in 
different directions. Blood flowed on the tar.

This was the scene - reminiscent of apartheid-era South Africa - in 
Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, yesterday when police used rubber 
bullets to disperse a crowd of protesters who had barricaded both sides 
of the Golden Highway.

At least four protesters, including three women, sustained serious 
injuries, bringing to eight the number injured since early yesterday 
morning.

Waving a large placard reading "10 years of freedom without water, 
sewerage, electricity - SA f*** democracy" and chanting revolutionary 
slogans, the irate protesters toyi-toyied along the highway, which had 
been barricaded with large iron sheeting, burning tyres, rocks and tins. 
A heavy contingent of police officers kept close watch.

Earlier in the morning, metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar had 
described the situation as "volatile".

Senior metro police and SAPS members tried to negotiate with the 
protesters, asking them to move off the road.

However, the residents, who were joined by schoolchildren, remained defiant.

When officials from the Joburg council tried to address the crowd, they 
were pelted with stones. Police reacted by firing rubber bullets in an 
attempt to disperse the crowd.

When one of the councillors, Kedibone Simango, arrived under heavy 
police guard, tensions boiled over, with the protesting residents booing 
her even before she could address them.

She was finally able to speak from an armoured vehicle, but protesters 
continued to hurl abuse at her as she battled to convince them that some 
of their demands would be met by next month.
Click here!

The defiant crowd had by then swelled to more than 500. No sooner had 
the councillor been whisked away, when mayhem again broke out, with 
police shooting indiscriminately into the crowd.

One woman lay writhing in pain as she bled profusely from a 
rubber-bullet wound to the back of her head.

Some residents threatened to block the adjacent N1 freeway between 
Johannesburg and Bloemfontein.

"We will continue to block the road because the local municipality is 
not serious about addressing our problems. We need water, electricity, 
houses, and toilets," said Janet Setshedi, who lives in Ward 4, Orange Farm.

Maria Nkomane, from Ward 6, complained that her area had always been 
overlooked in the provision of basic services.

"We've been told that we are on the waiting list for (low cost) houses 
since 1996. We are tired of watching our people dying from shack fires 
and floods," she said.

Bricks Mokolo, an organiser for the Orange Farm Water Crisis Committee, 
said most councillors in the area had failed to deliver in the critical 
areas of education, health and sanitation, and housing infrastructural 
development".

By late yesterday, order had been restored, with traffic running smoothly.

However, the situation in the area remained tense.

***

Shack dwellers watch in despair as their homes are torn down
'Eviction notices served on wrong community'

September 07, 2006 Edition 2

Anna Cox

They stood by anxiously watching their homes being demolished. 
Bulldozers systematically and forcefully tore down walls and roofs, 
leaving piles of rubble in their wake.

Residents rushed to gather whatever they could salvage, angry and desperate.

This was the scene yesterday as about 1 800 Lanseria shack dwellers were 
evicted from Diteneng squatter camp, next to Lanseria Airport, their 
home for the past 14 years.

Children's homework sheets and half-eaten loaves of bread lay scattered 
on the ground.

Residents and local City of Johannesburg councillor Isaac Maela claim 
the eviction was illegal because the people were not served with 
notices. These, they say, were erroneously served on Malatje, a squatter 
camp next door.

Maela stood by helplessly as the homes were razed. He tried frantically 
to phone the Johannesburg and Gauteng housing departments to find 
temporary accommodation for the people.

By 5pm no one had arrived and he was still waiting with the people. He 
had spent about 10 hours in the sun with them.

"These people with their small children will be sleeping outside again 
tonight. Thank goodness it is not too cold," the councillor said.

"Many of their belongings have been destroyed. The sheriff took away 
building materials such as the zinc sheets."

Maela said neither police nor the sheriff would listen when he tried to 
explain about the incorrect eviction orders. Instead police threatened 
to arrest him.

They would not believe he was the local councillor despite him showing 
his identity tag. "They were very nasty and would not listen to anyone," 
he said.

Residents believe the shacks are being demolished to make way for a golf 
estate.
Click here!

Thuli Dube, a community worker, said she and the rest of the people had 
nowhere to go.

"If they want us out, they must provide us with alternative accommodation.

"We will go and camp on the main Lanseria road and stay there until they 
find us somewhere to go," she said.

Smith Mhlangu was bitter.

"Many of us will be working on the construction of the new estate as 
labourers, yet they are throwing us out of our homes.

"These wealthy people don't want to see our shacks around their place."

Joyce Moagi said the children cried on Tuesday when they got home from 
school and saw their shattered homes.

"They got off the bus and saw bulldozers and hundreds of police pulling 
the shacks down. They got very scared."

Region A (Midrand) housing manager Paul Ntsooa said the property owner 
who obtained the eviction order should have served papers on the city, 
but had not done so.

"We were taken by surprise by this move.

"I have sent some officials to the property, which is privately owned, 
to do a headcount of women, children and the elderly to see what we can 
do for them," he said.

The owner of the property, known only as Koos, could not be contacted by 
The Star.